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posted by takyon on Monday June 29 2015, @09:30AM   Printer-friendly
from the corporatizing-the-gay-bouquet dept.

San Francisco -- and the tech industry -- are beaming with Pride this weekend.

The United States Supreme Court on Friday ruled same-sex marriage a constitutional right, one day before San Francisco begins its famous Pride festivities, one of the largest celebrations of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender -- aka LGBT -- culture in the country. The tech industry is practically euphoric, especially after high-profile executives this year, from Apple CEO Tim Cook to Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff, publicly advocated advancing gay rights. But that advancement works both ways, said Gary Virginia, board president of SF Pride, which organizes the celebration. Speaking out is not just a personal decision for tech execs; it makes good business sense too, he said.

"They attract a younger population for their workforce, and it's been proven that social attitudes are changing," said Virginia. "So it behooves them to have progressive policies to attract LGBT employees. I think they see the benefit of it."

The celebration caps off a landmark year for the gay rights movement. In September, Apple's Cook wrote an essay saying he's gay, making him the first openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company. A month later, he allowed for his name to be attached to an LGBT anti-discrimination bill in his home state of Alabama. In March, Benioff said he had cancelled all Salesforce events in Indiana after its governor signed a law that would allow businesses to refuse service to anyone in the LGBT community on religious grounds. Less than a week later, dozens of executives from Airbnb, Ebay, Jawbone, Lyft, PayPal, Twitter and other companies signed a joint statement in The Washington Post against the religious freedom laws either passed or being considered in several states.

The tech industry is a relatively recent ally. LGBT leaders point out it's taken decades to achieve Friday's Supreme Court decision. New York City, for example, is commemorating the anniversary of the 1969 riots at the Stonewall Inn, which many consider the jump start of the movement. The 1978 assassination of Harvey Milk, an openly gay San Francisco board supervisor, galvanized the national LGBT community.


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  • (Score: 2) by Bot on Monday June 29 2015, @09:58AM

    by Bot (3902) on Monday June 29 2015, @09:58AM (#202719) Journal

    Technically, there aren't any rights. Just because they are written in a book they don't become real, no? Anyway your point is really valid.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by FatPhil on Monday June 29 2015, @11:24AM

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Monday June 29 2015, @11:24AM (#202735) Homepage
    Indeed. As intelligent[citation needed] mammals we are able to organise ourselves, and voluntarily limit what we consider acceptible behaviour. That which we do not limit are our "rights". However, we're not one people, and different self-organising groups (countries/unions) are able to chose their own limitations. Some chose better than others. Those who involve the concept of what other people do with their own genitalia in their choice process probably aren't making the right choices.
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
    • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2015, @12:42PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2015, @12:42PM (#202757)

      Indeed. As intelligent[citation needed] mammals

      Really, "[citation needed]"...? Do also say "hashtag me" whenever you refer to yourself in the third person?

    • (Score: 2) by curunir_wolf on Monday June 29 2015, @05:04PM

      by curunir_wolf (4772) on Monday June 29 2015, @05:04PM (#202892)

      Those who involve the concept of what other people do with their own genitalia in their choice process probably aren't making the right choices.

      Are you sure about that? It seems to be one of the oldest inclusions of "organizing" that human mammals have, back to the very oldest written language. And, it always and everywhere has a significant impact on all of society. Circumcision, arranged marriages, and gender norms have been enforced in civilizations nearly back to the dawn of man. Most are still in place, and others have been added, such as one-child-per-couple, education programs about contraception and prevention of STD's, and on and on. It's pretty pervasive.

      --
      I am a crackpot
      • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2015, @06:15PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2015, @06:15PM (#202929)

        Are you sure about that? It seems to be one of the oldest inclusions of "organizing" that human mammals have, back to the very oldest written language.

        Ah, an appeal to tradition. Slavery is pretty old as well. But so what?

        And, it always and everywhere has a significant impact on all of society.

        What? No, it doesn't.

        Circumcision, arranged marriages, and gender norms have been enforced in civilizations nearly back to the dawn of man.

        Again, so what? Who cares how old something is?

      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 30 2015, @12:25AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 30 2015, @12:25AM (#203098)

        Yes, there is many a society that has a giant stick up its butt about one fetish or another.

        ...then, to get back onto the LGBT topic, there is the culture of the indigenous peoples of the western hemisphere who saw those folks [google.com] as a resource to be utilized. [wikipedia.org]

        You didn't really think that all that feathered stuff they wore ceremonially was dreamed up by someone straight did you?

        -- gewg_

      • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday June 30 2015, @09:00AM

        by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Tuesday June 30 2015, @09:00AM (#203248) Homepage
        Am I sure about that? Yes I am. And apparently you are too. All those things you list are examples of *not* making the right choices. You're just reiterating my point.
        --
        Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
  • (Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2015, @01:37PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2015, @01:37PM (#202780)

    Lets not wax philosophic shall we?

  • (Score: 2) by VLM on Monday June 29 2015, @01:50PM

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Monday June 29 2015, @01:50PM (#202795)

    Rights only exist as a PR concept invented by the aristocracy because with industrialization and mass media it became cheaper to feed the masses a line of BS than to shoot them down in the street. Temporarily this worked pretty well. Like the scam of democracy where the one party selects two candidates and tells us we have a choice over who lies to us and does the opposite of their PR campaign. Anyone outside the aristocracy who tries to actually use "rights" will be destroyed of course. But the times they are a changin... and the relationship between the masses and "the system" seem more strained than ever in recent history. Gonna be fun to watch. Hope my family and I don't get guillotined.

    A historical concept worth thinking about WRT "human rights" is there are professional agitator/victim organizations that are extremely butthurt that Irish and southern euros got rolled into "white" and they can't do their agit prop and divide and conqueror the Italians vs the stereotypical new england WASPs for example, at least not anymore, although it worked quite profitably a century ago. IF gay rights ever do go away and get rolled into human rights, theres going to be amazing butthurt by the community organizer crowd. Don't mess with someone's salary and expect them not to get pissed off about it. Even now, there's lots of people who's salary depended upon gay marriage agit prop who are very anxious and pissed off today... whos going to hire them to promote what?

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2015, @02:15PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2015, @02:15PM (#202811)

      Hopefully all the feminists will be killed.

      Even the pleasure of marrying a young girl has been stolen from us.

      • (Score: 2) by kurenai.tsubasa on Monday June 29 2015, @04:17PM

        by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Monday June 29 2015, @04:17PM (#202869) Journal

        Your eloquent argument has me convinced, mikeeusa! We need to get back to traditional marriage! None of this interracial crap or even waiting for sexual maturity! Consent?! Bah! Traditional marriage all the way!

        /ducks

        • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2015, @07:12PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2015, @07:12PM (#202957)

          Yes. Real traditional marraige: that of a young girl (or girls) to a man, all the way.

        • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2015, @11:46PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2015, @11:46PM (#203081)

          "Traditional marriage" is a contract for an exchange of property. Lets not go back to that.

          • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday June 30 2015, @01:38AM

            by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Tuesday June 30 2015, @01:38AM (#203127)

            "Traditional marriage" is a contract for an exchange of property. Lets not go back to that.

            I quite agree, just find a woman who hates you and give her your house. It saves a lot of time.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 30 2015, @08:32AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 30 2015, @08:32AM (#203243)

    I prefer viewing them as abstract ideals, of which our mortal and fallible minds can only make more or less educated guesses about what they are. Under this model, whether a deed is right or wrong, doesn't depend on whom you are asking about it nor what are the current ideals of the society judging it.

    In fact, it is pretty much the only model which allows rights as such immutable entities to exist at all. It is simply an unfortunate consequence of those axioms that you cannot ever know for sure whether your morality is correct.

    This doesn't mean they wouldn't exist or are irrelevant, mind you. You cannot compute busy beaver function either, but it is there, just outside our reach.